Where Stevie Ray Vaughan Died In A Helicopter Crash

Stevie Ray Vaughan, one of the greatest electric guitar players of all time died in a helicopter crash on August 27, 1990 after taking off from a helipad on a golf course in Elkhorn, Wisconsin on his way to Chicago.

Nobody will ever know what really happened, but it is believed that the pilot had attempted to fly around a mountain, rather than over it and misjudged his position due to thick fog and darkness. Because of this, he couldn’t see the upcoming mountain and was relying solely on instruments to navigate.

2 Comments

Michael K
on December 11, 2010 at 7:37 am

Hello – I was supposed to go to this show, Stevie’s last one. I have gone to shows at Alpine Valley since 1980 and I am very familiar with the location.

My understanding of the crash that night was that Eric Clapton gave up his spot on the helicopter so that Stevie could go. Eric’s manager was also on the bird when it crashed. There was heavy fog that night and just after take off the bird hit the side of the ski hill at Alpine Valley. About three week’s after the crash I went golfing at Alpine Valley and on the 8th tee box we could see the crash site, what we think is the crash site and what was told to us by Alpine Valley. It was a very distinct site, the area is heavily wooded and the site was very charred and open, earlier in the summer it was not. We had played there earlier and often that season, Alpine Valley is one of the best visuals and sounding concert venues in N. America.

In closing I challenge your information and do enjoy your site. My first show was KISS on Jan 15, 1978 at the Chicago Stadium and have been to over 400 shows since that time, somewhere around 700 different bands….I have the ticket stubs, shirts and programs to back it up. Thank You for taking time to read this and hopefully replying. If the site administrator would like to discuss further, post a comment here with how I can reach you without providing my contact info to the world…

I live in Texas and I’m ashamed of myself. SRV is my guitar idol and I haven’t payed my respects. Personally I didn’t know he was buried in Dalles Tx my home town. I’m going within the next two weeks for sure. I’ve been playing on and off I’m not good at all and can’t play a single SRV song. Just hope some day that i can. RIP sorry it ended the way it did fought drugs and alcohol but lost from life it self.